With police and the pollution control board (PCB) failing to contain noise pollution, the state government has decided to set up a “high-powered committee” to keep the decibel devil under check.

Environment secretary M.L. Meena will chair the newly-constituted panel. The other members will include a CID inspector-general, deputy commissioner of the reserve force of Calcutta Police, a senior scientist of the state PCB and senior law officer in the environment department Biswajit Mukherjee.

“The primary function of the committee will be to co-ordinate among government agencies like the PCB, police and the district administrations to curb noise pollution,” said Meena. The panel has been formed to step up vigil against violation of noise norms, he stressed.

The buzz in the environment department is that the committee was set up after the department received a slew of complaints regarding failure of the PCB and police in containing noise pollution in Calcutta and its adjoining districts during festivals.

“In the 1990s, the state was hailed across the country for its success in reducing noise pollution. But the situation has deteriorated over the past few years,” said a senior official in the environment department.

According to the official, the PCB has not only overlooked violation of noise norms, it has also remained a mute spectator to filling up of waterbodies, rampant trimming of trees and industrial pollution.

Though it is not clear how the committee will function and enforce the norms, the environment department is hopeful that representation of various agencies will give the panel more teeth.

“If the committee remains reactive, the entire purpose will be defeated and bureaucratic red tapism will once again come in the way of a cleaner environment. The committee will have to be proactive and take stern measures to meet its objectives,” pointed out a green activist.